A blog about life, faith, and books.

I am SHERlocked

For Christmas I bought myself the DVD’s of BBC’s Sherlock, series 1 and series 2. As of last night I am finished with both. and if you watch the show and haven’t seen the Reichenbach Fall episode yet feel free to skip to the end!! There are some *SPOILERS* coming your way…..I’m warning you, skip ahead if you haven’t seen the episode and plan to watch either series any time soon….**SPOILERS** ahead……Don’t say I didn’t warn you!!!

I am hooked on this show! Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman clearly have some amazing on-screen chemistry playing Friends and Flat-Mates Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson respectively. I watched the Reichenbach episode and with some fair warning from my friend Britt I armed myself with tissue and a cozy blanket, and had to mentally and emotionally prepare myself for what I thought I knew was going to happen. Thanks to Pinterest I knew that the final scene would take place on a rooftop, and that it was going to be the climactic showdown between the hero, Sherlock (of course Sherlock himself would hate that I just called him a hero) and the villain Moriarty (who would LOVE that I just labeled him that!), and that by the end Sherlock would jump. What I didn’t expect was what how this episode worked it’s way up to that heartbreaking climax……..

Throughout the episode, Moriarty set to work planting doubt in the minds of those working with Sherlock. Staring with Sally Donovan, Anderson (who had no problem believing that), and eventually even Lestrade. All it took was one little seed of doubt for everyone around Sherlock to start wondering if this self proclaimed high functioning sociopath was responsible for all of these crimes. Moriarty was achieving what he set out to do, take himself out of the equation and make Sherlock look like the guilty one.

What I wasn’t expecting was the scene in the journalist’s apartment. When Jim Moriarty is there as “Richard Brook”. An actor payed by Sherlock to masquerade as this criminal mastermind, stand trial for these crimes, and drive Sherlock mad. What I wasn’t expecting was that doubt to creep into my own mind. I myself was starting to believe that Moriarty wasn’t real….that Sherlock really had manufactured him in his mind. After all, Sherlock is brilliant, he could easily set up the crimes, solve them in the same clever manner he always does, walk away scott free and be done with it.

That is the brilliance of the collective minds of Steven Moffat and Mark Gattiss. They are the writing team and co-creators of BBC’s Sherlock. They have taken Doyle’s original tales and modernized them. They are also part of the creative team behind Doctor Who, but that is a post for a different time. You find yourself getting so drawn into the show and the stories, you wait for those brilliant deductions, snark from Sherlock and John correcting him when his timing is a little off. Molly looks at him with longing, flirts with him even and he doesn’t notice (if you been there yourself you root for Molly, I myself root for Molly!!), sass from John, the genuine love between Sherlock and Mrs. Hudson……As a fan of the show (and total Cumberbatch Fangirl!!) I love to see how the relationships evolve, how the show progresses across the seasons. As the show evolves so does the writing.

While a major part of what makes this show so great is the writing, it wouldn’t be half the show it is if it wasn’t for the actors themselves. I mentioned how that tiny seen of doubt began to bloom in my own mind, even when Sherlock stood on that ledge talking to John on the phone. I began to believe the whole charade until you saw that tear fall from Benedict’s eye and roll down his cheek. I say Benedict here because there is no doubt in my mind that that was real. This man was telling his best friend that he was a fraud, and that he was going to end his life right then, all to save these people that he genuinely cares about. It broke my heart to see that, but even more so because I truly believe that those tears were shed by the actor being himself and not his character. These two men have such incredible on-screen chemistry between them playing these two friends and in interviews they have said that it can only come from the close friendship that they have off-screen as-well.

All that being said, I am so looking forward to the beginning of series 3 on January 19th, but I do have a few expectations…..

1.) Starting with Sherlock walking into 221B Baker Street, tearing off his scarf, stepping into his chair (I love his blatant disregard for furniture), and saying “Here I am John!! Not Dead!!” and a Bilbo Baggins version of John Watson passing out from the shock….

2.) John comes to, and decks him good….this time going for the nose*

3.) Sherlock and Molly finally becoming a couple (or as much as Sherlock is able to do that…)

and finally 4.) Sherlock embracing Mrs. Hudson for a good long time. For him England would fall if she left Baker St., but imagine what his “death” would do to her.

*In Scandal in Belgravia, Sherlock tells John to punch him in the face, John goes for the cheek and Irene Adler says “Somebody loves you! If I had to punch that face, I’d avoid the teeth and nose too.” More than likely (at least in my mind) John would be unhappy, and would have no trouble going for the nose!

There you have it, my thoughts, commentary, and a little bit of what I’d like to see from the upcoming series!

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One thought on “I am SHERlocked”

You are so right about the chemistry between Ben and Martin-they are both amazing actors and no matter how many times the story of Sherlock gets made, I really can't see anyone else playing Holmes and Watson. The passion and range of emotions they bring to these characters have made them not only entertaining but relateable. And like you said, it gives huge credit to the writers as well as they are able to take a story that's over a century old and make it modern for today's audience to understand.

That being said, I'm counting down the days until the Series 3 premiere here in the States. The game is (almost) on!